New Adventures of the Old Sarah

The last 6 months have brought about many changes for the Daigle family, some exciting, some scary but all good things for us as a family.  Last May Eric started a new job which has offered him daily challenges that he can learn and grow from both personally and professionally.  In July we welcomed our third child Emmett Richard and are lives were blessed with more love and joy beyond measure.  September brought the start of Kindergarten for Alexander, from bus rides to schedule changes, sorting and sight-words he has taken it all in and is doing wonderful.  September was also a big change for me as I did not return to teaching, I am lucky that my maternity leave runs until the middle of November.  When I was on leave after Alexander and Hannah I had started the school year and then left to be home.  This was a very different feeling to have everyone go back to school and I did not go with them.  Don't get me wrong - since Emmett is still only sleeping about 5 hours at night I am grateful for the time.  Reality struck when a few weeks ago I was dropping off some papers at my school and a boy walked in to the office.  The nurse asked him whose class he was in and he said Mrs. Daigle and I realized I had no idea who he was!  So I find myself with this struggle, the struggle so many mom's (and many dad's) face - I am thrilled to be watching my children grow more each day and having the time to take care of them, Eric and our house but in the back of my mind is this little face, the face of a boy that is "mine" but does not know me.  Am I strong enough to cut the ties? 

Dinner Thoughts

Alexander's review of his day as said at the dinner table:

"Anne (imaginary wife) went out and got a new gun today. It is a special gun that she got for the chipmunk (living under our back deck). It is a 'deleter' that she can point at the chipmunk and when she squeezes it the chipmunk turns into nothingness, it's all the way gone. It will be very helpful to have."

Storm Coverage

We had a request for some hurricane footage with Alexander commentary. This is what I took but the power was not on until yesterday and the cable was not up and running until today.

From Good to Bad

When Alexander turned 4 there were 2 things he said he wanted to learn to do, cut with scissors and ride a bike. We spent the beginning part of the summer working on the bike riding and as a motivator, told Alexander that when he was confident enough he could ride his bike all the way to the cove. Well...today was the day. He had been practicing and woke up and told me he was ready. At Hannah's physical therapy session the previous day, the PT talked about having her push weighted objects. So I thought that this walk to the cove could serve dual purpose, Alexander would get his "victory ride" and Hannah could get some PT practice. So I loaded a 5 pound bag of sugar in the umbrella stroller for Hannah to push, buckled Alexander's helmet and off we went. They both did such a great job! Alexander would ride for 3 driveways and stop and wait. Hannah made it almost the whole way...even though her steering wasn't the best. I remember standing at the end of the sidewalk and thinking, "we actually made it!" I was so proud that when Alexander asked to go throw rocks in the water I couldn't say no. After the first rock Alexander was walking back to get a second one and just as I was saying "watch out for that..." he stepped in, then grabbed at and wiped on his shirt ..."dog poop". Without too much detail, it was everywhere! Alexander was equally grossed out and we needed to get home right away. Needless to say, I had to push a now tired Hannah in the stroller, carry the 5 pound bag of sugar under my arm and pull the bike that Alexander now refused to ride because he did not want to get poop on it while he limped and cried behind me. Once we got home I stripped Alexander down out on the patio, washed his legs and feet off, changed his clothes, dropped his shoes in a bucket of warm soapy water and brought him in to wash hands. When I went back to finally get Hannah out of the stroller, I noticed she had stepped in goose poop and while waiting for me managed to get it all over her legs! I couldn't help but think about how things can go from so great to literally crappy in minutes. On the other hand, it was a nice reminder that even though my kids are growing up so quickly and learning to do so many things on their own, they still need me to help in many ways...even if it is to scrub the poop off their shoes.

No Gas Day

The first week of July I was able to enjoy some great family time at the stuga. One night towards the end of that week, I found myself sitting on the porch while a game of scrabble was going on, others were involved in some life discussions and light reading by a few and I realized that I had not gotten in the car in three days, and that was just fine by me. I wondered, would I be able to do this at home? So we have given it a try. I have not been able to go three days in a row but we have managed one day each week. This does not mean that we sit at home all day trying to pass the time. Last week we walked to the park, got a snack at the bakery and even went to the Farmer's Market, just not in the car. The idea is to simplify life and enjoy what is close by.

With the heat this week we used our no gas day to stay cool in the yard with time on the new swing set and some splashes in the kiddie pool. I could not resist...

Kicked Out of the Club

As many of you know, a few months back I started a Facebook page for Alexander. It all happened one night out of a simple dinner conversation. We were talking about the best parts of our day and he said something so funny Eric and I could hardly keep straight faces. We looked at each other and said, "that should go on Facebook." Ironic that now I no longer remember what that phrase was. I created the Facebook page to share with all of his "friends" all of these regular comments and musings that occur in our household. It was also refreshing to see life through 3 year old eyes every now and then.

Then last week I went to log-in to his account and a message popped up that the account had been deleted. I was sent to a site reminding me of the Facebook expectation that you need to use your real name and age. When I created the account I knew full well that I was not using my real name, I was using his, and I did not use either of our real birthdates, I added a few years to his date. But I also knew that I created the account with no ill will, it was simply meant to be fun and I wanted to see what would come of it...and I did.

So now that I have been found out and the account has been closed the blog is up and running again. All those tidbits of our lives and insights to the world will now be posted here. So come back again soon, look for pictures and even videos, we will not kick you out.

Advent in the bathroom

We have just about finished our downstairs bathroom and I couldn't be happier. When we bought the house Eric said the pink had to go and the curtains had to become full-length. As with most home projects, four years later and we finally get it done. We both knew that we wanted a change but in the grand-scheme of everything it was a functioning bathroom and so it did not take priority. When I finally decided to focus my attention on this project I spent a lot of time on a color-scheme (not many options when you are painting over pink) a design plan and what to do for more storage. All of these decisions and shopping trips took a good four to five months, again, not a big surprise with a home project. Then in just about a week, the paint was up, the curtains were hung, the cabinet arrived and the decorations were added and we have a new bathroom that I love! I finally figured out how all those HGTV shows make it happen in a day or two - all the time and hard work is in the preparation.

This transformation happened during the season of advent. I couldn't help but notice how that was a very fitting time for these changes. Advent is the time of preparation for Christmas, the time when we reflect on our lives and prepare to welcome Christ to our world. Although the preparations are necessary, that is not what brings about joy. Joy is found in the completion of a project, the satisfaction in a job well done. So I find myself reminded to take time to let God prepare me so I am ready for a job well done.

Before:

After: